Highlights

Earlier today, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan admitted a no-confidence motion against the Modi government

Both the government and the opposition parties exuded the confidence of mustering the requisite numbers on Friday

The motion will be put to vote on Friday

NEW DELHI: The BJP-led NDA government and the Opposition dug in for a showdown in the Lok Sabha after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday admitted a no-confidence motion and said it would be taken up on Friday for discussion and voting.

Both the fronts expressed confidence that they will be able to muster the required number of votes to turn the motion in their favour. While the BJP said that it is hopeful of getting support of as many as 314 MPs, the Congress refuted claims that it doesn't have the requisite number of MPs to win the vote.

We will get support of as many as 314 MPs, says BJP

The BJP believes that the government will get the support of as many as 314 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

According to the estimate by the party's floor managers, the government is likely to get support from small parties outside the NDA such as Anbumani Ramadoss-led PMK and Raju Shetty-led Swabhimani Paksha.

Although Shetty and Ramadoss are no longer members of the NDA, but the government believes that they would support it during the vote on the motion.

Sources in the party said the Narendra Modi-led government would get the support of 314 MPs in the lower house, which has an effective strength of 535 members.

The list of the 314 MPs, however, does not include Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is also a BJP MP, they said. The majority mark is 268.

Talking to reporters, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar today said the NDA was united and would vote against the motion.

"We are hopeful that we will get support from parties outside NDA as well. It is strange that opposition brings this motion despite the fact that the BJP got majority on its own and today NDA is ruling in 21 states," he said.

Talking to reporters later, he said the government was ready to give "a befitting reply" to the Opposition.

"We will put before people the welfare schemes and development projects carried out by the government. The NDA has governments in 21 states. The people have rejected opposition in every election held in the last four years," Kumar said.

Modi government has failed the people of the nation, Congress defends the motion

Addressing a joint press conference, Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Rajiv Satav said that the Narendra Modi government has failed to fulfil various promises it had made to the people of the country before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

UPA chairperson and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi when asked that the Congress and the other opposition parties did not have required the numbers, she replied -- "Who says we don't have the numbers?"

Venugopal said the prime minister and the BJP had made a host of promises to the people of the country during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and had not fulfilled any of them and dubbed the government as "jumlo ki sarkar".

"We are happy that the speaker has decided to take up the 'no-confidence motion' against the Modi government on Friday. We are very confident that we will be successful in this 'no-confidence motion'," Venugopal told reporters.

"We want to highlight the anti-people policies and bad governance by these people. We are confident that we will be successful in the no-confidence motion," Satav said.

Political parties issue whips

Earlier today, within hours of the admission of the motion, several political parties issued whips. The Congress issued a three-line whip to all its MPs in the Lok Sabha to be present on Friday when the no-confidence motion is taken up in the House.

BJP also issued a three-line whip and also urged its allies in the NDA to do the same. Whips were also issued by TMC and TDP ahead of the vote scheduled to take place on Friday.

First no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government

In the morning, Kesineni Srinavas of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was the first to give his no-confidence notice. Mahajan asked him to read out the motion, which was supported by over 50 members, including those from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party and CPI-M.

The motion is the first to be faced by the Narendra Modi government, which is left with less than one year in office.

It also comes a few months before elections in some key states such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the BJP is in power, and the general elections due in April-May next year.

Officials said it is the first no-confidence motion to be faced by any government in the Lok Sabha in 15 years, the last being in August 2003 when the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee who faced the motion brought by the Congress and other parties.

Mahajan, who took up the opposition-backed move after the question hour on the first day of the monsoon session, said she was duty-bound to put it before the House.

Attempts to pass no-confidence failed during the Budget Session

Opposition parties had pressed for a no-confidence motion in the second half of the Budget session, but it could not be taken up. The session was nearly washed out.

The ruling NDA has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha. The TDP, whose member's notice was accepted, was part of the ruling NDA government and had parted ways with BJP earlier this year over its demand for a special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Though there was apprehension of disruptions on issues such as mob lynchings, the monsoon session of parliament saw a smooth beginning with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha taking up the listed business.

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